[Peace-discuss] Court case to be brought against U. S. Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro

[Phil Stinard]

Here is my finished article on the court case being brought against the U. 
S. Ambassador to Venezuela by families of the victims of the April 11, 2002 
coup in Venezuela.  When I realized that Charles Shapiro is still the 
ambassador to Venezuela, the skin on the back of my arms started rising....

--Phil Stinard


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Court case to be brought against Zeus 32 Americana, aka U. S. Ambassador to
Venezuela, Charles Shapiro

by Philip Stinard, with information compiled from Venpres and Radio Nacional 
de
Venezuela.

On April 11, in Caracas, the Venezuelan group Asovic (Association of Victims 
of
the April 11, 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez) announced that they would file
charges in U. S. courts and in the World Court in the Hague against the 
current
U. S. Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, for his involvement in 
sniper
shootings at the Llaguno Bridge during the coup at the Miraflores Palace 
that
left several people dead, including a journalist.

According to a statement released by Merly Morales, a spokeswoman for the
lawyers representing Asovic, there are “elements for conviction, which in 
our
judgment, serve as evidence to ask for the opening of an inquiry before U. 
S.
courts and the appropriate international tribunals” against Ambassador 
Shapiro.
Such evidence ranges from “special courses in assault given by U. S. 
authorities
to members of the [Caracas] Metropolitan Police Phoenix Group and Chacao and
Baruta municipal police in the months of October 2001 and with greater 
frequency
in March and the first days of April 2002, to conversations recorded in the
Center of Operations of the Metropolitan Police on April 11 of that year 
[2002]
between Commissioner Forero and Ambassador Shapiro during the hours of 
greatest
intensity of shots fired by members of the aforementioned police institution
[Caracas Metropolitan Police] against people concentrated in the areas
immediately surrounding the Miraflores Palace.”

In addition, there is also evidence “presented by the [Chavez] 
administration
relating to the presence in Venezuelan territory of U. S. ships on April 11, 
as
well as [U. S.] military personnel in the military installations at Fort 
Tiuna
that would lead one to believe that there was an act of State committed 
against
the constitutional government of Venezuela that directly affected members of 
our
association that were injured and killed.”

In reference to a court case brought against Hugo Chavez before the World 
Court
in The Hague by opposition groups, Morales continues, “a group of Venezuelan
citizens, tied to international conspiratorial factors that participated in, 
and
still participate in, plots against the President, asked for an 
investigation
before the Prosecutor of the World Court in The Hague against our Head of 
State
and other high officials for supposed crimes against humanity; this 
obligates us
to take part in these legal processes because we are direct victims of these
processes, and [we do this] in honor of dismantling the international 
judicial
landscape activated by the coup leaders, who were the true ones responsible 
for
those occurrences [the shootings].” [from reports by Venpres]


Zeus 32 Americana, aka Ambassador Charles Shapiro

The tapes of Caracas Metropolitan Police conversations referred to in the
complaint to be filed by Asovic were made available to Radio Nacional de
Venezuela (RNE) by Commissioner Leonardo Navas, of the Metropolitan Police, 
in
November of last year.   In an interview broadcast on Venezolana de 
Television,
Navas denounces the involvement of the Metropolitan Director of Police, 
Henry
Vivas, in a conspiracy that sought the overthrow of President Hugo Chavez, 
and
states that the police kept Ambassador Shapiro informed of all occurrences 
that
took place with respect to the assault on the pro-Chavez demonstrators near 
the
Palace as they happened.

Navas states, “First of all, I want to say that I appeal to the freedom of
conscience that is established in Article 61 of the National Constitution, 
and
then I must state that what you are going to hear on this tape are several
things that are very delicate, and which implicate several police 
authorities in
a conspiracy in the acts occurring the 11th of April [2002].  It is 
important
that these be made known, and I come here to make this [tape] public because 
I
don’t want to be involved in the cover-up of criminal activities.  On the 
tape,
it is clearly evident how the Metropolitan Police participated in the 
crucial
moment of the 11th of April, and several things that they have tried to 
cover up
will be revealed.”

As the tape plays, one can hear a conversation between various police 
officials,
who indicate that they have taken various roof tops of buildings in the 
center
of Caracas, in the vicinity of the opposition march.  One can also hear the
voice of a person who identifies himself as “Sun 1,” who in this case is
Metropolitan Police Director Vivas, who is talking to “Sun 2,” who is Lazaro
Forero, current Commander of this police force, asking for updates.  Forero
informs Vivas that the “talibans,” referring to the [pro-Chavez 
demonstrators]
on Llaguno Bridge, are shooting back at them, and the police can’t leave 
their
current location.  He adds that, “the Phoenix Group must arm itself with
long-range rifles” to neutralize those people.

Navas continues, “This is a tape of 120 minutes, and I selected the most
relevant parts, but I must say that you can hear that they were stationed on 
the
rooftops of the buildings on Baralt Avenue.  Some people have said that 
hours
before, in the morning or at noon on the 11th of April, there were 
supposedly
snipers, and if that theory were true, how is it that you hear that the
Metropolitan Police are on these same roofs and that there are no people 
being
detained?  That shows that it was the police who were on the roofs, [not
snipers].  Furthermore, the police indicate that they were being shot at 
from
below.  All of this is clear evidence that the [Metropolitan Police] 
institution
was loaned to a sector of the population, in this case the opposition.”

Later, one can hear on the tape a voice asking someone to call “Zeus 32
Americana,” the code word for U. S. Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles 
Shapiro.
Nava continues, “This raises suspicions, or calls attention to the fact that 
in
this crucial moment, when they should be paying more attention to what is
happening on Baralt Avenue, they ask to speak to someone who has nothing to 
do
with this.  This is interference in the internal affairs of the country.”

“All of this will be public proof, well-known and widely communicated, that 
any
prosecutor can use officially to initiate a criminal investigation; and we 
can
demonstrate that, truly, some members of the [police] institution were 
involved
in the situation that occurred the 11th of April; and with the deaths and
injuries, we are looking at several crimes.  Commissioners Forero, Vivas, 
and
Delgado must know that the police, by acting in a disproportionate manner,
entering forcefully to neutralize people who in that moment were not using 
their
guns or presenting any resistance, potentiated an institution that, rather 
than
reestablishing public order, subverted public order.”

The tapes can be heard at the following web site:
http://rnv.gov.ve/noticias/?act=ST&f=28&t=1742

Footage of the assault can be viewed in the documentary, The Revolution Will 
Not
Be Televised.  A second documentary on the rooftop assault, Llaguno Bridge:
Keys to a Massacre, is in production, and will cover some aspects that were 
not
covered in the first documentary.

_________________________________________________________________
Watch LIVE baseball games on your computer with MLB.TV, included with MSN 
Premium! 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/mlb&pgmarket=en-us/go/onm00200439ave/direct/01/